More than 900 popular authors, including John Grisham and Stephen King, have criticised Amazon’s tactics in a simmering dispute with an American publisher about the pricing of electronic books.

Michael Lewis, writer of The Big Short and Flash Boys, was also among the authors who claim that they have been innocently caught up in the battle between the internet retailer and Hachette, their publisher.

The writers claim that Amazon has effectively used them as hostages in its negotiations with Hachette, by refusing to accept pre-orders for their books, refusing to discount them and slowing deliveries to customers.